ANTI blood sports protesters: who picketed the final day of yesterday's national coursing meeting in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, have vowed to continue campaigning until there is a ban on live hare coursing.
About 100 people joined the protest, organised by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports and the Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports. The group included about 60 pupils of the Sancta Maria Secondary School in Ballyroan, Rathfarnham, Co Dublin.
Gardai maintained a close, watch on the picket at the Powerstown Park venue and the protest passed off peacefully.
Mr Pat Phelan, press officer of the Irish Council Against Blood Sports, said the muzzling of coursing greyhounds introduced in recent years had not eliminated the cruelty and the killing of hares, as had been predicted by former Minister Mr Joe Walsh.
Mr Phelan said that coursing belonged to "to the dark ages" and not a civilised society which was entering the 21st century.
He described muzzling of greyhounds as nothing more than cosmetic and said there was no evidence that muzzles were used in coursing trials and training sessions.
The protesters carried anti blood sport placards and chanted anti coursing slogans.
However, the picket had little effect on the thousands of peopled who attended the coursing finals.
Mr Phelan said that they had also requested the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, to honour his promise that he would do everything in his power to secure a ban on coursing.
The Minister's office had responsibility for netting and licensing, which Mr Phelan described as an integral part of coursing.